mythologists
Ancient story scholars
Mythologists are scholars who study myths—the traditional stories, beliefs, and symbols of cultures.
The term covers academics who analyze mythology's origins, meanings, and psychological significance, as well as popular writers who interpret mythic patterns in literature and human experience: Joseph Campbell was among the most influential mythologists of the twentieth century.
Higher education community
- professorsHighest-ranking university instructors
- researchersThose who study systematically
- anthropologistsScholars of human cultures
- ethnographersScholars documenting human cultures
historians · folklorists · classicists · philologists · ethnologists · theorists · humanities · hermeneutics
Universal symbolic patterns
- motifsRecurring thematic elements
- iconographyAnalysis of artistic symbols
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
- totemsSpiritual clan symbols
emblems · hero's journey · monomyth · collective unconscious · transformation · threshold · sacred symbols · ritual objects
All gods of a religion
- deitiesWorshipped supernatural beings
- godsSupernatural beings worshipped
- goddessesDivine feminine beings
- cosmogonyStudy of universal origins
origin stories · theogony · primordial · tricksters · demigods · underworld · afterlife · sacred
Long heroic narratives
- sagasExtended heroic narratives
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
- talesSpoken or written narratives
- fablesDidactic animal stories
legends · lore · chronicles · ballads · storytelling · oral tradition · narratives · parables
Ancient Greek epic composer
- OvidAncient Roman poet
- VirgilClassical epic poet
- PlatoGreek philosopher, academy founder
- AristotleGreek founder of formal logic
Herodotus · Sophocles · Euripides · Aeschylus · Plutarch · Athens · Delphi · Olympia
Formal observances with ritual
- ritesFormal ceremonial acts
- initiationFormal admission ceremony
- worshipReligious reverence and praise
- observancesCustomary practices or ceremonies
traditions · customs · offerings · veneration · purification · pilgrimage · shamanism · divination
academia
Higher education community
- professorsHighest-ranking university instructors
- researchersThose who study systematically
- anthropologistsScholars of human cultures
ethnographers · historians · folklorists · classicists · philologists · ethnologists · theorists · humanities · hermeneutics · semiotics
archetypes
Universal symbolic patterns
- motifsRecurring thematic elements
- iconographyAnalysis of artistic symbols
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
totems · emblems · hero's journey · monomyth · collective unconscious · transformation · threshold · sacred symbols · ritual objects · talismans
pantheon
All gods of a religion
- deitiesWorshipped supernatural beings
- godsSupernatural beings worshipped
- goddessesDivine feminine beings
cosmogony · origin stories · theogony · primordial · tricksters · demigods · underworld · afterlife · sacred · divine
epics
Long heroic narratives
- sagasExtended heroic narratives
- folkloreInherited cultural narratives
- talesSpoken or written narratives
fables · legends · lore · chronicles · ballads · storytelling · oral tradition · narratives · parables · allegories
Homer
Ancient Greek epic composer
Aristotle · Herodotus · Sophocles · Euripides · Aeschylus · Plutarch · Athens · Delphi · Olympia · Troy
ceremonies
Formal observances with ritual
- ritesFormal ceremonial acts
- initiationFormal admission ceremony
- worshipReligious reverence and praise
observances · traditions · customs · offerings · veneration · purification · pilgrimage · shamanism · divination · taboo
- storytellersstorytellers, narrator, narrators, tale-teller, tale spinner
mythologistshistorians
Scholars of the past
empiricists · documentarians · chroniclers · fact-checkers · positivists
mythologistsdebunkers
Those who discredit falsities
skeptics · rationalists · materialists · true believers · literalists